A New Beginning
by PsychoticEscape
Summary: Bella meets Edward and begins to learn new things about herself and the world around her.


Chapter One:

The Meeting

Bella stared in to the darkness as she waited. Was it always this dark? She had never feared the dark before; even when they were children and her friends would tell scary stories before bedtime. But something was different tonight; the darkness felt more like a living presence. This, she realized, was the feeling of being hunted.

She was being hunted.

By what? The forests in this tiny, inconspicuous town couldn't possibly hold anything dangerous. She had been visiting here since she was a child and nothing even remotely bad had ever happened. But things change…

It was getting later and her sense of danger was growing. Why had she come here? Just a few hours earlier she was looking out her bedroom window admiring the changing color of the leaves and now she was here. Here in this dark, cold forest. Alone.

But she wasn't alone. She could feel the presence of her hunter. Her fear peaked and she had almost decided to run for the forest's edge when she saw him.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

The response was instant and quite as a breath, "It's not who I am, it's what I am that matters."

"W-what d-do you m-mean?" she stuttered in a near panic.

"I, my dear, am the hunter. But, you already know this. You can feel it, can't you? Your mind, your body, your very existence screams for you to flee from my presence."

Through her fear she tried to understand what he was saying, what game he was playing. She knew he was right, everything within her was screaming at her to run, to run and never look back, but her fear had her paralyzed. It was hard to think of anything beyond the panic, but she had to try. "W-what do y-you w-want?" she choked out.

"You," he whispered. "I've been waiting for you, calling for you. I know you felt it, that's why you are here."

The hunter smiled and stepped closer to her and smiled.

She knew the smile should scare her, but instantly she felt her fear begin to fade. This was her destiny, as she looked at this beautiful, terrifying being she felt a sense of purpose radiate through her and for the first time she spoke with confidence, "Why have you been calling for me? Why did I need to come here?"

"Ahh," he breathed. "You feel it now, don't you? This is your destiny, that is why you are here."

"I feel like I should be here, but I don't know why. You're going to kill me, aren't you? Isn't that why you've been hunting me?"

"No, girl, I am not here to kill you though it would have been startlingly easy to do so," He smiled again as he motioned for her to follow him, "Come. We will continue this conversation as we walk."

Part of her mind was hesitant. She did not know this man, but she felt no fear in following him even despite how little she knew. "Who are you, what are you? I know you said you're the hunter, but what does that mean? Why is it my destiny to be here?"

He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before answering. "My name," he said "is Edward Cullen. I am, as I told you, a hunter. Or, in your world you would know me as a Vampire. As to why it is your destiny I cannot say because I do not know. It is simply something that I can sense within you."

As they walked through the forest he continued to explain, "In your world Vampires are seen as blood-thirsty, evil fiends who prey upon the innocent and scared. In some cases, this is true and in some it is utterly wrong. Just as with humans, there are both good and evil within our society."

"So, you're one of the good guys?" she questioned.

"Did I say that?" he countered.

After a brief pause he continued, "I do not see myself as a member of either group, good or bad. I am a hunter. There have been many that have died at my hand, but I now recognize the errors I made during my youth. I am, however, able to say that I have never harmed an innocent."

She nodded at this as she understood his reason for not killing her. She was an innocent. "Thank God," she whispered almost silently to herself. "So, if this is my destiny, are you on a mission from God or something?"

"I am not a messenger from God, nothing quite that important," he said in response to her whisper. "I am simply gifted. My kind has abstained from killing innocents and has become quite capable of seeing thing importance in a human life. In rare occasions, such as yours, we can sense a difference. Something greater than the normality we typically see."

"You're saying I'm different? How am I different?" she asked curiously.

"I do not yet know," he said as he glanced smilingly in front of him. "But, I assure you that we will find out soon enough."

She started to question him further until she realized that they had made it back to the forest's edge and back to her home.

With a whispered, "I'll return another time, Bella" he disappeared silently into the darkness of the forest.


End file.
